When I was making pleated masks I went to 2 pleats instead of 3 so I could keep from overlapping the pleats. I also found some soft round elastic on Amazon that I used and made sure the pleats did not touch the elastic. I also used a Jeans-a-ma-jig to start over the humps and a sharp needle but it still hurt my hands to work the fabric (wish I had thought to use the walking foot - duh!!). I am now making the more molded masks and they are so much easier on me and the machine.